News, Reviews, Interviews

AN INTERVIEW WITH…HOLLY AND COCO CHANT (XYLAROO)

XYLAROO are a blissful, ambient duo consisting of Holly and Coco Chant. Currently on tour with Matt Berry and the Maypoles, which featured a date at Teesside University’s Student Union, Loose Cardigan of Ideas quizzed the sisters on what university life was like for them.

Quite juxtaposed to their relaxed and chilled out sound, Coco explains her second night at halls: “Some of my friends were saying I’d been smoking in the common room. I thought I’d just had a regular drunken night, but I got called into the office thinking they were calling me in for smoking. Turns out they caught me on CCTV parkour-ing on the Hilton car park.” She finds the funny side though, laughing: “I never actually watched the footage.”

Holly’s wild tale is much more vague, teasing: “I got barred from my SU.” But what were we to expect at Teesside University‘s show? Literally nothing; continuing the vague responses with: “Expect nothing and you can’t be disappointed.”

What we do know, though, is how laid-back Xylaroo’s recorded music is. Coco, however, says: “I like to think that we pack a bit more of a punch live; especially with the full band.” Their style, in my opinion is similar to First Aid Kit, however it is a different band that influence the sisters massively. “Rilo Kiley pretty much birthed Xylaroo. Jenny Lewis was the reason Holly started writing songs and she is a huge inspiration to us.

“We both used to listen to Tegan and Sara a lot when we were younger. They definitely influence our use of harmonies.”

Xylaroo’s tour ends tomorrow (Thursday 3rd November), which isn’t a bad thing for them. “We’ve got a bit of a break in November to work on new material. We are really excited about this.”